Mike Riversdale

Did you know that the Internet Archive has an ever growing archive of all of the open web? Every single page, where it's been allowed and has come to their attention, is being archived so that if the original disappears for whatever reason, you can still find a snapshot of it. To access this archive you use the Wayback Machine . This blog is safely stored deep within AND not just a one-off snapshot but many versions over the years. The blog's homepage has been saved 208 times between September 10, 2008 and October 6, 2024 (at time of writing this). Each post will have it's own stats, mostly one or two saves. The Internet Archive has saved my arse a number of times, but most recently it's been a source of images, but first, let me tell you a story. Back in the day this blog's web address was merely miramarmike.blogger.com ... in fact underlying it all, it still is. This was then mapped to blog.mikeriversdale.co.nz. HOWEVER, during a move down to Christchurch I had a

I'm a scotch egg connoisseur. The best scotch egg * is to be had at Monmouth's Waitrose, but that's too far away for me. New World in Foxton, the best to be had in AoNZ** rates very highly, slight crunch in the outside, mmmm. * scotch egg or Scotch Egg ? Oh Scotch egg . ** AoNZ = Aotearoa New Zealand

Of course it made me smile but I'll be honest it's made me confused more.

Much like lift music ("elevator music"), as championed by the company Muzac , there can be a certain numbing of the senses when those beige tunes enter the mind. Like Wellington Hospital though, you could have actual live music played by actual live people. It was very cool, it was jazz.

I recently posted Life Is Too Short To Drink Bad Wine , an article referring to life and how short and finite it is. Within that I said: I have absolutely no faith in the efficacy or hold with any moral stance that taking someone else's life is justified. It is such a miracle that someone lives at all and will (spoiler) end that taking on the arrogance and self privilege to end it for someone else is unthinkable and a total desertion of what it means to be human. I want to reflect upon that and what it means within me when people lay down their life for something bugger than themselves. Of course I mean soldiers, airwomen, and sailors, but also others that may see the only course of action is to either take anothers life for the greater good, or event to take their own. This is not going to be an easy write nor read, bail out whenever you feel it's all too much comfortable that looking after yourself is always to be applauded. Knowing that it's your time to lay down your li

About six weeks before I left Aotearoa New Zealand for Wales we met - WTF universe. We met via Bumble, a dating app, and during our first date I fell head over in heels in love. I've never had a first kiss like it. Ever. With only six weeks together we connected, made plans, and went away. We also talked about the fast approaching time apart. We didn't know what would happen, it was an adventure but also one of trust and, well, should we even bother? During our time apart we messaged and had night/morning video chats, we got to know each other more sharing times and moments. Then, weirdly, it was our time to physically meet again - will that virtual relationship of 5 months last an actual one? Still massively in love, I knew this was the person I could easily die beside ... as in I would die and she would be beside me, not - you get it. She opened her home to me, a home that was hers, a home that was about her and her kids, she allowed me in. Those first few weeks were quite th

You know how I'm using Google's NotebookLM to generate interesting conversational podcast episodes based on my blog posts . This episode of Google DeepMind's podcast hosted by Professor Hannah Fry talks with the originators of NotebookLM, how it came to be, how they utilise the tech provided, how they focus on a "house style", privacy, and where they see it going. I'm particularly excited about having "them" (the AI hosts) be experts in different disciplines in order to expand the conversation and come at it from differing angles.  Oh, and it having humour and telling actual jokes, here's "poop fart"  that they mentioned 😁 Oh, and listen to Raiza Martin and Steven Johnson's voices, yup, they've gotta be the base for the audio summary ones.

Made me smile when I realised those two photos will make a funny little GIF.

The UK trip photos come to an end, and some Wellington city ones popped into their own albums. Wellington Botanical Gardens, Soundshell, and Duck Pond  (Wellington, NZ) Lady Norwood Rose Garden Begonia House Carter Observatory Bolton Street Cemetery Wellington Cable Car Wellington Railway Station Citizens' War Memorial in Christchurch Mike's Daily View: Trip Edition

It's a long way to the other side of the planet. Not that it's that bad, the lack of exercise space during the time is the only issue; there's plenty to do, see, and spend your money on both in the plane and at the stopovers. Having said that, I'm glad it's over and I am back home ... or am I?

And that, was that 😓❤️

I've mentioned the many pubs of Monmouth previously, I took my leave of each one as I headed home to pack for the upcoming journey back to Aotearoa New Zealand.

No! Thank you Cat for reminding me, no

Back in my being fit days I lived in Monmouth but played for Pontypool. My final Saturday of the trip saw me join my old History teacher as we watched Monmouth RFC take on Pontypool , I couldn't have wanted it any other way.

I did it , I've shared some fascinating outputs , but what do I think about, how do I feel? Firstly I know it all sounds terribly personal but there is nothing in any of it that hasn't been taken from my blog which has been publicly available since 2004. No, you probably wouldn't do it, and that's fine, but I do and that's also fine. There is a sense of getting more information about me though, but I can see (from the reference links) that it's pulling stuff together. This is happening all the time with your information. A little bit of you from there, a little bit of you from here, and all comes together to make one larger picture of you - the whole is greater than the sum of the parts". This is tricky eh, but I am grateful to see it in action rather than have people pontificate at me about it. The summaries of me are quite insightful, that whole final section about me being a partner is delightful, but a tad scary. I'm happy with that output and that&

I did it , I've shared some fascinating outputs (below), but what do I think about it, how do I feel? I popped 50 blog posts into NotebookLM to see what the AI thought of me as a person - no, let me rephrase that - out of curiosity as to what the LLM would be able to create whilst it summarised and responded to prompts based upon the content of those posts. And to see what the AI couple would want to have a chat about 😁 So, here's a few prompts and the responses (the numbers are references to post sources, I've left them in coz can't be arsed removing them), all bold-ing is the systems. Mike Riversdale's Perspective on Life and the World: Mike Riversdale's blog posts reveal a multifaceted perspective on life and the world, encompassing themes of self-awareness, relationships, mental health, and finding joy in everyday experiences. Self-Awareness and Personal Growth: Riversdale displays a strong commitment to introspection and self-improvement. He reflects on h

Hands up those that can translate Welsh into English, maybe give this a go ...

I did it (below) I've shared some fascinating outputs , but what do I think about it, how do I feel? You know the audio podcast I create, using fancy AI , based upon blog posts ... you don't, oh, well now's a good time to pop over and do a little background listening. So, those episodes have all been fairly targeted, about specific things even if there was plenty of info for "them" to discuss. How would the fancy AI tackle a smattering of posts about me from across the years? Ones that represent Mike Riversdale, my views, what makes me laugh, and how I've lived my life through it's ups and downs? Can I get it to create a sort of, " This Is Your Life ", about me? Let's give it a go - I'm gonna add the following to NotebookLM alongside this post and let's see what it thinks about me and what I am about: My Mastodon introduction Photos page The life story, one more time: Chapter One: The First traveling Years Life story, Chapter Two: The

One last UK trip over the English border to Hereford for the very first night of  Rhod Gilbert & The Giant Grapefruit tour , a tour that is still on as at time of writing. What to do in Hereford for an afternoon? The Hereford Mappa Mundi of course, dur! The Hereford Mappa Mundi (Latin: mappa mundi ) is the largest medieval map still known to exist, depicting the known world. It is a religious rather than literal depiction, featuring heaven, hell and the path to salvation. Dating from ca. AD 1300, the map is drawn in a form deriving from the T and O pattern. Since my early teens and learning of the Hereford Mappa Mundi's and having it so close to my home town I have been enamoured with it. It feels like a drop of history that, through magic, has been transported through time and preserved in amber. Or perhaps an actual wizards scroll of the First Age from The Lord Of The Rings . All this just up the road from me. Enjoy the full photo album after checking out the centaur wit

Chatting and wandering through some shops with a mate and he mentioned just how expensive quality pillows are nowadays, "$500 for a pillow Michael, $500!" Firstly, yeah, he has a quality at the uppermost of standards, I've never bought a pillow for anything like that price. Maybe I should. From then on everything we window shopped was, "That's 3 pillowsworth!", ha ha ha I'm going to be measuring everything in pillows from now on. "How much, for a suit, what, no way, that's 1½ pillowsworth!"

Welsh police station light.

The hīkoi mō te Tiriti  was the calling card, a start, a bringing people together from across the nation so that the work can now begin. Why? The Act party is already rallying it's members around the messages it wants to flood the select committee with. It is here they think they can insert their divisive messages. Act, David Seymour, and his backers (notably Atlas, but also other foreign neoliberal billionaires) are willing to play the long game, this is merely the start for them. Having said that, I suspect they've probably taken a small step back due to the sheer amount of people saying, "No, we do not accept this" culminating in today's 45,000+ show of will, but that won't mean anything in the coming weeks. Tomorrow the hard work starts. Let's not get too work-y though, first up something simple, add you voice to the  Stop the Treaty Principles Bill - TOITŪ TE TIRITI!! petition which is, as I write this, at 250,738 signatures, more than the total num

I'm never likely ever to have a Christmas up at the farm ever again. The memories are warm, long, and part of me. When I do a Christmas it's this Welsh country house setting I am endeavouring to recreate. Thanks to my Mum an' Dad, my brother, my Nan an' Grandad, my Great Uncles and actual Uncle, my cousins and their families, you all made those times so so special.

Well, folks, it's been a while since we've seen a hīkoi of this magnitude. Thousands are taking to the streets, their voices echoing down the Golden Mile, demanding change. This ain't no walk in the park – this is a protest, a call to action, a damn good old-fashioned hīkoi. People have been walking from the very top of the north island, the bottom of the south island, and even overseas , congregating in Wellington later today. Now, I'm not one to get all political, but when you see a sea of people, young and old, Māori and Pākehā, all united by a common cause, you can't help but get a bit stirred up. These folks aren't messing around. They're marching for their rights, for their future, for a fairer Aotearoa. So, what's got everyone so fired up? It's a complex issue, but at its heart, it's about Te Tiriti / the Treaty of Waitangi and how the right-wing Act party, enabled by National, are wanting to re-write the nation's founding document. T

"I don't know a roller is gonna shift the water in the ground in time lads, sorry." tbf, once the river went down the water was all gone from the paddock in about 3 days although I can imagine it was a tad soft underfoot for a while though 😁

It's a shame most people don't write, even if it's not to be read.